USDA: Wisconsin milk production slows

USDA: Wisconsin milk production slows

MADISON — Wisconsin dairy farmers have broken their streak of year-over-year production increases.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Wisconsin farmers produced about 2.5 billion pounds of milk last month, down 0.6 percent from 2017.

Bob Cropp is a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He tells Wisconsin Public Radio that the slowdown in production is good for milk prices. Prices have been low for three straight years because of an abundance of milk on the market.

The USDA report says there were 5,000 fewer cows in the state compared to last year.

Darin Von Ruden is president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union. He says farms that remained open faced cold and snowy conditions this spring.